Happiness

What makes you happy? Certainly, we like pleasure and many pursue it as if, that the most important factor in life. Anything or anyone who gets in the way of their pleasure is to be discarded. For some, work must be set aside to be happy. The homeless and others have learned and drugs also been contributed to their pursuit of pleasure. They make pleasure king, even though it is destructive in the end, if it is the end in itself. Some of them enjoy their freedom over responsibility, and it gives them short-term pleasure. They are the captain of their own ship. This is an extreme and unwise approach to pleasure. It carries unpleasant consequences. This is a full commitment to pleasure without a wise consideration of the pain it brings with it.

Is happiness found in pleasure? Certainly, it makes one happy for a time. Does it satisfy, and in it do we find fulfillment? Malcolm Muggeridge, in his book, Conversion: A Spiritual Journey, says: “Of all the different purposes set before mankind, the most disastrous is surely, 'the Pursuit of Happiness,’ slipped into the American Declaration of Independence, along with 'Life and Liberty,’ as an unalienable right, almost accidentally, at the last moment. Happiness is like a young deer, fleet and beautiful. Hunt him, and he becomes a poor, frantic quarry; after the kill, a piece of stinking flesh.”

“Daniel Yankeovich, the author of the book New Rules, charts significant changes in our society across twenty social norms, including sexuality, marriage breakdown, family values, and the intensification of selfishness, the absence of personal sacrifice, and much else. The failure of community interests, an increase in loneliness, the uncertain role of the sexes, the rise of militant feminism, and increases in political corruption, heighten militancy in business, the loss of moral education—all these suggest that we are not living in happy times.” The Fulfillment: Pursing True Happiness, p.116, James Houston.

Happiness is more of a result of something that is an end in itself. It is also about the kind of person you are and become. Primarily pursuing pleasure will result in addictions and emptiness in the end—like a stinking piece of flesh. “Seeking pleasure is one of the fundamental motivations of human behavior, and this is entirely normal. The search for pleasure helps us in the fight against boredom, lethargy, and indifference. However, when pleasure is cultivated intensely as part of our everyday behavior, then it can distort human emotions. Like everything else, pleasure has its price. If we assume it is a right, then it can readily become an abuse.” James Houston, Ibid., p.37. Pursuing pleasure as an end in itself is hitching your wagon to the wrong wagon train in the end. It is a wagon train to nowhere. Some, however, pursue pleasure to escape pain to get some relief, like taking drugs or staying busy.

Some people think happiness is found in having more or in the pursuit of self-actualization. Realizing their full potential and being free from addiction and corruption. However, this brings its own addiction and pursuit that never quite satisfies. Houston states, “Is it not likely that self-actualization is like happiness itself—it comes about when we are not feverishly pursuing it? “Happiness is likened to a butterfly. It flits away when chased, but it will come and alight on your hand if you only sit quietly, occupied in doing something else.” Nathaniel Hawthorne. In contrast, advertisers tell us that happiness is found on the outside. “Overconsumption, in all its forms, does not increase happiness, and the overproduction of pleasure ends up being plain boring….In C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, the arch-devil Screwtape advises his apprentice to: “an ever-increasing craving for an ever-diminishing pleasure is the formula.” James Houston, Ibid.

We could go on and on about the ways that people seek happiness. I would recommend reading James Houston’s book, Fulfilment: Pursing True Happiness. Some approaches are more futile than others. Some make life a lot more tolerable, but tolerating life is not happiness.

True happiness is only found in God. It is the result of knowing God with your mind, affections, and will. Happiness is a result of knowing God and experiencing his transforming daily grace to become more like him. (1 John 2:5) It is enjoying God and being enjoyed by God.

The way to God is through truth. It is a very reasonable faith. The truth is pure logic. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). We must come to God the Father through the truth and Jesus Christ; he is the only way, and he is the way to live life.

Truth often destroys our illusions and distortions, and we may not be able to receive truth, especially if we have huge misconceptions of God, which are ultimately promoted by the devil. The truth is that by our own goodness, none of us will connect with God here and go to heaven when we die, and this is not easy to receive, but it is the truth. Through this painful realization, we pass from emptiness to fullness in Christ. The result of knowing God is peace, joy, and strength. However, it does require strength and courage, because some will mock you and God as a Christian. It is a narrow road; it is not the road of permissiveness that so indoctrinates our society. As James Houston states: “Perhaps one of the deadliest elements of our contemporary plight is permissiveness, compounded by loneliness and the absence of love.”

True happiness with God is not just for this time on earth, but it takes a long look to heaven. As psychologists and common sense tells us, taking the long look is a sign of maturity. “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”(Hebrews 12:2). As a Christian you may have to suffer here but your Christian rewards and the fullest of joy is set before you. Even in the midst of hardship you can know God’s joy. The Apostle Paul and the disciples worshiped and sang songs in jail, and were there for the crime of their testimony to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This anti-Christian approach is becoming more and more prevalent in our society.

The foundation of our happiness is God himself, but other factors make life pleasing or difficult. A loving relationship add to our life here and in heaven. Friends can add to our happiness, if it is a friend with integrity, faithfulness, and not just a one-way relationship. However, even in solitude, we can be happy in the Lord. Nothing can separate us from the Lord and his love and joy. (Romans 8:38-39) A Spiritual friend is a beautiful blessing. However as the Bible says, “You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased” (Psalm 4:7). Blaise Pascal, A French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer, said, “ It is quite certain that there is no good without the knowledge of God; that the closer one comes, the happier one is, and the further away on goes, the more unhappy one is.”

What makes you happy? God’s presence and his truth, love, and his guidance make me happy. My happiness is not based on things but in God himself. In his strength, I can even go through hardship and trust God in the process. The object of my faith and the goodness of God make me happy. I like to please and honor him, and I trust that he has my best interests in mind and is working in all things that turn to good in him. (Romans 8:28) I am grateful for his enormous love especially on the cross. Drawing closer and closer to God makes me happy and becoming more and more Christ-like makes me happy. As we grow closer to God, we will love others with a much greater strength and purity. Also, doing his will, even though at times it is not easy, and may be inconvenient, makes me happy. Jesus said, ‘Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Our character transformed by Jesus makes me happy. His abiding love, grace, and presence bring happiness. Faith in God and his providence makes me happy. Doing his will in evangelism and discipleship makes me happy.

However, as the scripture says we are not to think of ourselves to highly or too lowly. (Romans 12:3) There is no room for self-righteousness as a Christian. Our salvation and our transformation in Christ is all of grace, although in transformation we cooperate with him in the process.

Where is your happiness found? Is it in something fleeting and addicting, or does it set you free? You can turn to Jesus in repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, and you will experience fullness in him, and then as a disciple, you can with diligence grow into fullness. As God’s word says,” For this reason I bow my knees to the Father ]of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19). Happiness is found in the fullness of God the Father, in Jesus Christ the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. Experience that happiness in salvation and in your daily walk of grace and faith in Jesus Christ. Live life to the fullest that is possible on this earth in Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior

Resources

James Houston, Fulfillment: Pursuing True Happiness

Josef Pieper, Happiness & Contemplation

Ralph Martin, Fulfillment of all Desire.